Bangladeshi Youth beats India and reached the 2018 SAFF U-15 Championship final

Bangladeshi youth made their way to the 2018 SAFF U-15 Championship final after defeating the reigning champion India by 4-2 in a tie-breaker at All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Complexin in Lalitpur, Nepal on Thursday (November 1). In order to decide the title of the tournament, both Bangladesh and Pakistan will take on each other in the final match on Saturday (November 3) at the same venue. This match will begin at 2:45 pm Bangladesh time. 

Bangladesh and India met each other in the first semi-final match, which ended in 1-1 draw in the stipulated time. As a result, the match moved to a penalty shootout. Harsh Shailesh Patre gave India 1-0 lead after scoring a goal from a long distance in the 17^th minute. However, Ashikur Rahman equaled the score 1-1 in the 90+3 minute from a penalty and led the match towards the tie-breaker. 

In the penalty shootout, Tauhidul Riday, Raja Ansari, Kamran Raju and Rostom Mia successfully sent all four spot kicks inside the goal post. Thanks to Bangladesh’s substitute goalkeeper, Mehedi Hasan, India could covert two of their four goals correctly. Saving the first two Indian attempts, Mehedi became hero of the match. 

Pakistan made their easy access to the final round of the six-nation South Asian football tournament after beating the hosts Nepal by 4-0 goals at the same venue in the day’s second semi-final match in the afternoon. 

In the group stage, the boys in red and green humiliated the Maldives by 9-0 goals and then moved to the semi-final as group A champion after beating Nepal by 2-1 goals. 

Source- https://bdnews24.com/sport/2018/11/01/mehedis-penalty-heroics-help-bangladesh-beat-india-set-up-saff-u-15-final-against-pakistan